


All the Symptoms of Love

by Cloudbustings



Category: IT (2019), IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, IT Chapter Two - Fandom
Genre: Eddie being kind of horny and very in love, Eddie talks abt Richie in therapy, Established Relationship, M/M, Slight Internalised Homophobia, The recognition of your first love at forty, richie’s hot girl summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23115169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudbustings/pseuds/Cloudbustings
Summary: “I think I’m ill.” he blurts out.She looks quizzical. Her pencil thin eyebrows are knitted together, their drastic slopes pinching in the middle of her brow bone. “What do you mean?” she asks.“Like, I think something bad is happening to me. And it feels like I’m ill.”
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 8
Kudos: 63





	All the Symptoms of Love

“I think I’m ill.” he blurts out.

She looks quizzical. Her pencil thin eyebrows are knitted together, their drastic slopes pinching in the middle of her brow bone. “What do you mean?” she asks.

“Like, I think something bad is happening to me. And it feels like I’m ill.”

At this she frowns. “How are your feelings making you think you’re ‘ill’? What is it about them that makes you think that?”

“It’s giving me chest problems. My heart feels like it’s trying to jump out of my ribcage.” he tells her and clutches the fabric of his polo just over his right breast.

Eddie runs a wide toothed comb through his hair, relying on the low morning light to illuminate things while he takes away some of the stiffness brought on by the gel product he uses to slick back his curls until it looks like his hair is naturally straight. Satisfied, he leaves the brush on the counter and turns around, but when he faces the doorway he realises that Richie is watching him from the bed with a look in his eyes that gives off waves of  _ heat _ .

He’s shirtless, lying on his side, and it’s light enough in the room that Eddie can see sparse black chest hair and a dusting of more black hair trailing downwards from his belly button and over his soft stomach and the strong core muscles underneath a layer of fat. If his body drives Eddie wild, his eyes own his soul and his sly smile stakes a claim in his sanity. He’s staring at Eddie without a trace of shame. Blood rises to his cheeks. Inside his chest his heart beats uselessly at its cage like a lame, panicked bird.

_ “The tide is high but I’m holdin’ on..”  _ he hears Richie sing this quietly to himself. His hand is fiddling with the bedsheets around his waist, squeezing them in his fist. Eddie swallows through his dry throat and walks up to the bedside. Richie’s big brown eyes, almost black in the darkness, are staring right up at him. They flutter shut on instinct when Eddie runs a hand backwards through his shaggy hair. Nervously he hopes that—despite their close proximity—Richie can’t hear how loud the beating of his heart is in his ears the way that Eddie can.

The affectionate gesture is over quickly. He knows that Richie’s eyes follow him as he walks out the bedroom door to leave for work.

“I feel like I’m losing control of my body.” he says with a deep, distressed frown.

It’s sunny and the birds are crying out in the skies and on the beach. A little girl chases one but gets tailed close behind by her father when she gets too far away from the family’s place on a set of beach towels near a large, sun bleached driftwood log. Richie and Eddie sit on their own log taking licks at their respective ice creams—strawberry for Eddie, mint chocolate chip for Richie—while they let the sun bathe them in warmth.

Richie won’t be able to sit out for too long. He’s underneath the merciful shade of a tree, but it’s cold despite the heat outside the shade, and he’ll want to go inside soon. Eddie knows it. He enjoys this moment in spite of that. It’s worth it to avoid watching Richie hiss in pain underneath his aloe slick palms when they go home. 

And besides, Eddie’s been touching his soft white skin all day anyways, hiding under the disguise of concern for his health while he rubs SPF 40 in slow circles over every inch of skin he can reach. It helps that Richie has given up trying to do it himself, and instead allows Eddie to have his way with him. He closes his eyes with a smile on his face and Eddie roams his body shamelessly with his gaze, entirely suspicious that Richie likes it too, practically purring under the attention.

Now though, he has mint ice cream dribbling slightly out of the corner of his mouth and dotted on his plump lower lip. Eddie stares at it out of the corner of his vision until his eyes go dry. He swallows hard. Richie’s pink tongue darts out to scoop up some more sweet ice cream, and his warm brown eyes search the horizon calmly, completely unaware of his silent admirer. Eddie’s heart is doing that thing again.

Eddie’s hand jumps up to wipe away the ice cream just as Richie moves the cone back to his mouth and it’s a disaster. His fingers come into contact with the cone at light speed, causing it to jerk sideways in Richie’s so fast it startles them both and Richie lets go of the cone out of shock, so it shoots into the bushes beside him, lost forever. Probably soon to be swarmed by red ants who are hungry for massive amounts of sugar. 

It’s Eddie who squeaks in shock and Richie who stares dumbly at the bushes his treat has disappeared into. 

“ _ Ooh _ my god! I’m so sorry!” cries Eddie, two hands held over his mouth shaped in a helpless, gaping ‘o’. Richie turns his head to afford him a disappointed frown, and that hurts like being kneed in the gut. It’s gone in less than a second, though. Richie rolls his eyes, the corner of his mouth (Still stained with ice cream) turning upwards slightly.

“Nice job, man.” he smiles in exasperation. 

“Fuck! You weren’t even done yet!” hisses Eddie.

Richie’s amused smile grows lax and his eyes soften with sympathy. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m not mad.” he says soothingly. Eddie closes his gaping mouth, though he continues to frown deeply. “You are buying me a new one though.” 

Eddie snorts at that, much calmer now. “Yeah, of course. Same flavour?” Richie gives him a nod of affirmation and he gets up to get the ice cream for him from the shop nearby, leaving Richie alone in the shade humming a song. 

_ “I want to be your number one…” _

“And sometimes I say just...the  _ stupidest _ things without meaning too.” says Eddie with his head in his bony hands, his elbows pressing into his knees, likely leaving a red mark that won’t be visible while it’s hidden under the fabric of his jeans. 

Janet nods understandingly and with wide green eyes like she’s finally caught a pesky fly within the palms of her hands, or she’s caught the thread leading to the person on the other side of a tin-can phone and she’s reeling it in to find out whose waiting at the end of it. Eddie just shakes his head.

“No, no, that’s not what I mean. I-I mean...I say  _ embarrassing  _ things. It’s like all the weird, clingy, creepy, obsessed thoughts I have over my boyfriend just  _ spill out. _ ” he emphasises his distress to her with the palms of his open arms turned out like he’s Jesus Christ, and his doe eyes are wide. “The other day I said to him-“

“Don’t be stupid, I  _ love _ your voice.” Eddie sighs, staring out of the window of the apartment he shares with Richie. It’s cold outside. Eddie blanches as white as the sky once he realizes what he said, far too late to retract it. To minimise the affection in his tone. It’s like it just slipped right out of his brain and through his mouth. He reddens at the sound of Richie’s laughter on the other end of the phone.

“Awwww, Sweetheart! _~”_ Richie cooes. “I think I’ll tell the whole world the good news. My baby loves my voice!”

“Oh my  _ god.”  _ Eddie mutters, rolling his eyes.

“I am surprised though.” says Richie. “Most people tell me I sound like I have two fingers pinching my nose. What could you possibly like about it? Other than my  _ sexy baritone  _ when I go down a few octaves, of course.” He laughs, and Eddie can picture him shooting off a sly smile and winking at the words  _ sexy baritone.  _ It makes his cheeks ache with how hard he smiles at the thought.

“Um. Like. Sure. You sound kind of nasally, but it-it’s  _ cute?  _ Y’know?” he coughs, getting redder and redder, feeling like a creep for having thought so much before about his voice, even if they’re dating. It doesn’t help that Richie starts that precious mirthful giggling again that makes Eddie’s heart squeeze like the firm hand of affection is gripping it.

“ _ Anyways _ . When are you getting back?” Eddie skilfully changes the topic, and Richie permissively allows him to without putting up a fight. Besides, he has  _ so much  _ to tell Eddie about his new manager, Chelsea.

“I think I’m falling in love.” Eddie tells her, and he says it in a tone which perfectly conveys how overwhelmed he is by the depth of his own emotions. “I’ve never been in love before.” he says, and he might be a middle aged man, but he sounds just like a lost little child when he tells her this.

“You do sound like you’re in love.” comments Janet. “You’re already in a relationship with him. You realise you love him. Do you feel that this is a good thing?” she probes.

“Uh…” Eddie says breathily. He meets her eyes instead of looking at the coffee table. Moments before there had been a cloudy and uncertain look upon his face, but now it’s as if the sun has shone before him and suddenly he is determined. Suddenly he has a hold of a rope that steadies him. 

“Yes. I’m glad to be in love with him.” he says with such confidence that it leaves no room for question or concern.

“Well then. Congratulations.” Janet smiles.

_ “I’m not the kind of girl, who gives up just like that. Oh, no.” _

**Author's Note:**

> Well that wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be but I needed to get some writing practice in


End file.
